Today in Apple history: Apple is back in the black

January 6, 1998: After taking over a company on the verge of bankruptcy, Steve Jobs shocks attendees at San Francisco’s Macworld Expo by revealing that Apple is profitable again. Little did most of us know exactly how massive Apple’s comeback trail was set to be. still climbing to its 1999 valuation peak, while Apple was suffering the effects of the preceding decade’s disappointing product launches and poor management decisions. Pixar’s 1995 IPO turned him into a billionaire, the hardware division of his NeXT computer company proved disappointing from a financial perspective. Soon after returning to Apple and taking the iCEO position, Jobs reported a massive money-losing quarter for Apple in 1997. The company lost $161 million in just three months. Apple’s return to profitability Today in Apple history.”) Then there was the continued success of Mac OS 8, which at the time delivered the most successful sales performance of any Apple software product in history. In addition, Cupertino benefited from the adoption of “built-to-order” Macs and increasing business through Apple’s website. For both of those successes, Jobs took a page out of Dell’s mega-successful playbook as Apple embraced the internet like never before. On the back of Jobs’ Macworld announcement that Apple expected to report net profits exceeding $45 million on revenues of about $1.575 billion in the quarter ending December 31, Apple stock rose almost 20 percent to $19 a share. Analysts had been predicting that the company would lose money. But don’t feel too bad… Don’t beat yourself up about not investing… [Read full story]